Reviews by Hojaminbag:

Allies Win the War has a clear, brownish red body and a massive tan head. The head is rocky and thick, and it begins to lace my glass immediately with good looking lacing.

The aroma mixes fruity hops, a touch of alcohol, bread, chocolate, and dark fruits including figs. The resulting combination is fairly nice.

Although Allies Win the War tastes fine, it is no where near as good as the aroma suggested. The flavor is very weak. A little bit of alcohol and touches of dark fruit mixes with a slight hop bitterness. Notes of bread and chocolate come through as well. The finish is downright bland and watery, which is the biggest disappointment of all.

Fairly light body, with an almost watery feel to it.

For how good Allies Win the War smells and looks, it's a let down. There is nothing bad about it, but considering the amount of flavor most other beers pack into 8.5% ABV, this one is strangely simplistic.

More User Reviews:

First off to me this is an American style strong ale with its 52 IBU's but I guess it don't really matter.Poured a rich clear amber with nicely formed one finger head that settled into a creamy mass leaving no lace behind.A healthy dose of left coast citric hops and caramel malt in the nose,a little sweet alcohol come into play as the beer sits more.Sweet dates really play a big role on the palate giving richness and sweetness,some brown sugar notes lend more sweentess but a big shot of citric and earthy hops finish the beer.This is exactly what I like with big northwest hops and a big malt bill,the use of figs is ok but I love the big hops,this is why an American strong is my favorite style.

Pored from a can into a tulip glass. Dark amber and clear in complexion. Head about one finger and slowly recedes into a thin covering with a middling amount of lacing. Aroma is hoppy and sweet. Bitter and very hop forward but that gives way to a fruity sweetness. Overall very drinkable and the high abv isn't noticeable. A nice wintery brew!

It is what it is ... a big muscle brew. A moon catch with the timing, cooler New England draws me to darker stronger brews after midnight. Good drinking. Yet another great choice for cans ... and beer in general. Give this one a go.

12 ounce can with "canned on" dating on the bottom of the can. Nice to have some info, but I wonder what percentage of consumers look at the bottom of the can...pours a nice glowing shade of auburn amber, near clear, with a darker tan head that's on the loose side, leaves ample low fine sheeting and moderate bits of lace.

Appearance- A very dark ruby red, almost brown. A half finger of light tan head. Pretty good lacing throughout the whole glass.

Smell- Smells like an IPA...the usual hppy, grapefruit, lemon, and pine. Maybe a hint of prunes or dates.

Taste- The taste is MUCH more prolific than the nose. The IPA taste takes a backseat to more pronounced chocolate and dates. An alcolhol/toffee is in the back.

Mouthfeel- Not bad...not too thin, but certainly not thick. The beer hides the 8.5% very well.

Overall- I love that 21st amendment was willing to take a chance on this. Is this a ground-breaking, world changing beer? Of course not. But it is an above average brew. It's like a combo of an IPA and a brown ale.

Rich copper in colour with a cream-coloured, foamy head. Pervasive citrus-hop aroma with sweet-malt and dates. It is very sweet in taste, but also had a nice hop presence. It had a mellow sweetness, with the date-flavour noticeable, and a hop-flavour finish.

Would I buy it again? Probably not... too rich to drink more than a couple.

Allies Win The War! opens with a sweet, dark fruit aroma, the fact that the beer has been brewed with dates immediately apparent. The sweet date notes blend nicely with brown sugars, toast crust, molasses, and touches of vanilla from the malts, as well as pink grapefruit spritzer and light pine resin from the hops, the latter two aromas bringing both a nice counter in the brightness of grapefruit and the bitterness of resin. As a whole, the nose is very enticing, the sugars quite aromatic, with just enough breads and hops to balance everything out. The aroma does tend to fade after a few seconds, marking a slight weakness, but still manages to beg to be tasted.

On the tongue, the beer is highly sweet, the dark date sugars immediately noticeable, but blending extremely well with grapefruit and pine hops, as well as molasses, brown sugar, toast crust, toasted nut, pepper, and a mélange of orange, nectarine, and berry from the malts. In subsequent sips the date sugars do fade somewhat, slightly overtaken by the 52 IBUs, but the sugars as a whole still retain enough potency to be delicious. Late in the mouthful a stronger rye bread or whole wheat toast crust comes forward momentarily as the sugars die off, replaced in the aftertaste by grapefruit and pine hops, which linger on the tongue for a good while. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, this is very good beer, and it’s nice to see an unusual ingredient such as dates being used in such spectacular fashion, blending nicely with the other flavors and enhancing them, rather than becoming the focal point. The fact that the date flavors are overtaken in subsequent mouthfuls by the hops is somewhat of a letdown, but the beer is still very good, and worth trying.

Nose is not big, minty hops, dried fruit, slight alcoholBrilliant dark mahogany brown under a tan tinted 2" finely bubbled foam cap.Palate starts malty with dried fruit then gives way to a prominent hop accent and dries out in the finish. Result is well balanced between the malt, fruit, hops and alcohol.Slightly warming with a medium to medium full body and medium carbonation.

Poured from a very cool looking 12 oz. can into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass. Canned on 10/26/11.

Appearance: Pours a deep and dark brownish orange with a little ruby red. Lots of rising bubbles and a solid four fingers of off white head with very good retention. Lots of lacing sticking to the glass.

Smell: Aroma is hoppy with a big malt backbone. Bready caramel and toffee malts. Big smell of citrus hops with some hints of grapefruit and orange. Also some spicy pine resin. Hints of sweet dark fruits with some dates and prune.

Taste: Malt forward here. Sweet bready caramel and toffee malts up front with some notes of dates and other dark fruits. Hops start to come through midway with some citrus grapefruit and pine. Also some hints of scotch. Hops may have faded a bit over the past two months but this is still pretty good. Makes for a nice balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Creamy and somewhat chewy. Pretty smooth for the abv.

Overall: A pretty solid ale. Good balance of malts and hops. The dark fruit adds a nice touch.

Can pours out a purple and ruby liquid, nice sized head, a pretty cool color going on here. Aroma was hops, but the appearance made the mind play tricks on me a la geto boys and I got a dark fruit brown sugar vibe as well. Kind of a good, cool and unique aroma, usually don't get such things brought together in a single brew.

Taste, hides alcohol nice, easy enough to drink during a football game (cans, so nice to sneak in). Big malt presence, but so are the hops and it all evens out pretty much. Its like equal parts American dubbel and ipa. Raisiny hop resin and brown sugar. Mouthfeel was actually thinner than expected, but that was kind of a plus as I was worried this beer would get bogged down in sweetness and malt heft, but no, plenty lively all the way through.

Pours nicely into when of my oversized Belgian chalice glasses, with a khaki tan head flowing thick and a dark mahogany amber body glowing when held toward the light. Aroma has citrus notes and pine efforts shining through, also some caramelized sugars from the dark roasted malts in here. Deep over ripened dark fruit notes, this says brewed with california dates, I'm also getting tart plum and other dark fruits soaked in some alcohol. Very balanced flavors weighing with a hefty load of pine/citrus hop notes coming through and clocking in 52 IBU's. It's actually a nice strong ale with some dates and dark fruits bringing a nice caramelizd sugar note to the dark malts, and finishes earth/citrus peel/pine hop bitterness that wraps things up quite nicely. Well hidden alcohol really not as boozey as I was first guessing. Not cloying moderate carbonation medium to big bodied ale, happy with the dry balanced finish with big lingering hop bitterness. Overall a beer that I should have bought a four pack of along the way while instead I picked up one can for 5 bucks at a local beer bar. I could have had a four pack for ll dollars.

This bold brew is a medium-dark brown with some red highlights. A light reddish-tan head is steady and keeps its form. After diminishing somewhat, it leaves a thick foam that remains and leaves good, patchy lacing on the glass.The smell is an earthy English hops variety bitterness with a biscuity malts balance and, seemingly, a mix of dark fruits.These hops are fresh, almost raw, and oily, plenty of dark earthiness without the teeth-grating citric edge of some Americans. I can appreciate the darker, less bright aspect of British varieties, particularly as it works here. Earthy and almost woody notes set up a biscuit malt balance. Dates take a moment to come in and then linger in the background, first on the back of the tongue but eventually moving forward in the finish. I don't find alcohol intrusive whatsoever. This is a nice, balanced brew that, to me, is as the style guide lists: bigger than a Pale Ale yet smaller than a Barleywine.The body is medium-full and fairly rich, It doesn't have a creamy smoothness but it is smooth and has a nice character and depth to it.I would say this is what most would be looking for in the style.